Tuesday Passwords

Passwords or Please, don’t be st*p*d!

Each year splashdata releases a list of the “top” twenty-five “Worst Passwords.”

This is the list for:

2013

1 123456 Up 1
2 password Down 1
3 12345678 Unchanged
4 qwerty Up 1
5 abc123 Down 1
6 123456789 New
7 111111 Up 2
8 1234567 Up 5
9 iloveyou Up 2
10 adobe123 New
11 123123 Up 5
12 admin New
13 1234567890 New
14 letmein Down 7
15 photoshop New
16 1234 New
17 monkey Down 11
18 shadow Unchanged
19 sunshine Down 5
20 12345 New
21 password1 Up 4
22 princess New
23 azerty New
24 trustno1 Down 12
25 000000 New

2014

  • 123456 (unchanged from 2013)
  • password (unchanged)
  • 12345 (up 17 spots)
  • 12345678 (down one)
  • qwerty (down one)
  • 1234567890 (unchanged)
  • 1234 (up nine)
  • baseball (New)
  • dragon (New)
  • football (New)
  • 1234567 (down four)
  • monkey (up five)
  • letmein (up one)
  • abc123 (down nine)
  • 111111 (down eight)
  • mustang (New)
  • access (New)
  • shadow (unchanged)
  • master (New)
  • michael (New)
  • superman (New)
  • 696969 (New)
  • 123123 (down 12)
  • batman (New)
  • trustno1 (down one)

If you’d like some help on coming up with better passwords, please, see my post entitled: Sunday Passwords.

Sunday Passwords

Sunday Passwords

An article in today’s OC Register by Thomas Hill (gobankingratres.com) entitled – 4 places burglars search for data – got me thinking again about computer passwords. You know, those letters, numbers and special characters we use to keep others from breaking into our files.

One of the problems with passwords is that if you actually use a word, a real word in any language, your files can be opened by a brute force dictionary attack. The same thing goes if you type it in backwards, duh.

One of the problems with hard to guess passwords — ones that contain letters, upper and lower case, numbers and special characters — is that they are so hard to remember. Therefore, we write them down. Hmmm . . . burglar breaks into house, turns on computer, opens desk drawer and finds pad with your banking password. Two minutes later your account is empty and his is full.

Need a good password(s) that’s (almost) foolproof and easy to remember?

Select a favorite quotation (or two or three).

For example: The man who was not Terrence O’Grady had come quietly. (From Agent of Change by Lee and Miller)

Take the first letter of each word: TmwwnTO’Ghcq — an easy to remember password with upper and lower case letters, an apostrophe, and is twelve digits long. Need a number in the mix? Substitute the capital O with a zero — TmwwnT0’Ghcq

Need more numbers or a longer password? Look on the same page: Standard Year 1392.

New password: TmwwnT0’Ghcq1392

You really think someone is going to guess this? And, if you forget part of it, all you have to do is get the book from the shelf (which, of course, is in another room).


 

Want to check the strength of your passwords? Try one, or all of the following:

http://www.passwordmeter.com/

http://password-checker.online-domain-tools.com/

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/pc-security/password-checker.aspx


Need other numbers?

Use the last four digits of your best friend’s (the one you had while in you were in elementary school) phone number.

Do you remember your first phone number? (same thing as above)


Other examples:

There is a house in New Orleans they call the Rising Sun:
TiahiNOtctRS
T1ah1N0tctRS

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter silvered wings:
OIhstsboEAdtsolsw,
o1hstsb0EAdts0lsw

(From High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., which I had to memorize for an oral presentation in elementary school.)

Haven’t got a prayer of remembering this stuff? Try a prayer.

Our Father who (which) art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
OFwaihhbtn or — OFwaihhbtn1392
0Fwa1h,hbtn or — 0Fwa1h,hbtn1392
0Fwa1h,hbtn. or — 0Fwa1h,hbtn.1392

Last piece of advice: Do NOT use your bank account password for anything else, under any circumstances, and if you have only one real good password, use it here.


This Post made possible through the aid of Smoke and Mist — sleeping quietly on the sofa.

Smoke and Mist — Helping Passwords
Smoke and Mist — Helping

Now, back to reading The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower.